Ides of Blood #5

“Chains” (No Spoilers)

This is an incredibly dense comic. I’m not talking page-length, I’m talking story-wise. It takes me a while to get through the 22 pages of story but Paul has packed so much into those pages, I feel more than full when I’m done reading. It’s a great feeling!

Things slowed down significantly in this issue but rightfully so. Our characters are on their way to cracking the mystery at the heart of this story and Paul continues to add great twists and turns; even tragic ones. I won’t say who, but let’s just say at least one character doesn’t make out of this issue. It’s so cool when a creator is not afraid to end his creations. It raises the stakes of the story and shows that no one is safe. Plus, Paul does a great job of creating great characters in such a short amount of screen time. It actually sucked when I saw this character die. That’s great story-telling!

Gen 13 #39

“Pocatello: Part 5-Heroes” (No Spoilers)

Next up out the door, everyone’s favorite teen team: Gen 13. I have to say I was hoping for a fonder farewell to my favorite teens but I think the circumstances didn’t allow it as much.

When Phil Hester came onboard, I’m sure he had this specific story in mind to tell and it was in no way supposed to be a story that ended the Gen 13 title. It seems that they may have told him in time about Wildstorm’s closing and he tried to adjust what he could but so much change had occurred in the title, most of the original characters were not around for the finale.

Wildcats #26

“Desert Storms” (No Spoilers)

Wow! If you are a long time Wildstorm fan like me there are a ton of references and appearances in here that will make you giddy! Much like Christos Gage did in his run, Adam Beechen is finding great ways to incorporate old characters we haven’t seen in years.

Beechen is still juggling several stories but for the most part we get two stories here with two distinct themes. One is the more epic story involving the mysterious character Aeon and the majority of the other heroes. But the second is a more personal story as Warblade takes the nurse who helped him when he was wounded and they go to Earth to find her family. In the midst of all the grandness of the Aeon story, the Warblade story is more down to Earth and very human. I hope your heart is prepared for the outcome.

The Authority: The Lost Year #12

“Reality” (No Spoilers)

Here we are finally and so ends half (looking at you Wildcats) of the redemption for Worldstorm and this titled which had been put on hold since Grant Morrison left it in 2006. It has been a bumpy ride to say the least but it is very interesting how they chose to end this.

All of you who have been following our coverage of this title know that for the most part we’ve been really frustrated with it. Morrison had a strong start when he worked on it, so when Keith Giffen was announced to take it over it seemed like a good fit. Giffen, after all, had already written these characters several times. But somewhere along the way, it seemed that this series as a whole just started to fall apart. One thing that was evident was the story arcs were way too short. There were several alternate worlds that the team visited that were really cool but only lasted two issues. This led to a lot of great set up being resolved super fast in order to move on to the next alternate reality.